Tennessee’s embattled House speaker to resign in August

The Associated Press

Tuesday

Jun 4, 2019 at 4:40 PMJun 4, 2019 at 4:41 PM

NASHVILLE — Tennessee’s embattled House speaker has announced he’ll resign from his leadership position on Aug. 2 after a vote of no confidence by his Republican caucus amid a scandal over explicit text messages.

The move is unprecedented in Tennessee’s modern political era. The last speaker resignation came in 1931 in the Senate.

House Speaker Glen Casada announced Tuesday that he’s asking Gov. Bill Lee to call lawmakers back for a special legislative session to elect a new speaker on the day he steps down.

Lee has said he would consider calling a session should House leadership ask for one.

Casada has been dogged by calls to resign since it was revealed he exchanged text messages containing sexually explicit language about women with his former chief of staff several years ago, among other controversies.

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